Hi everyone! Welcome to my first blog entry. My name’s Colleen, and I’m a member of the class of 2004. I’m just about to enter my second semester of an MFA program in Playwriting at Boston University, and I wanted to share my progress with all of you. An MFA isn’t a very common degree to pursue (when asked what I’m going to school for, I’ve gotten the comment “a what in what???” when I reply that I’m getting an MFA in playwriting), so I thought it might make for an interesting story. I also noticed that I’m not the only one of my friends who recently went back or made plans to go back to school after spending a few “gap years” in the workplace. I thought that others going through this process or young alums thinking about going to grad school someday might be able to relate.
Some of you are probably thinking “why playwriting?” and I don’t blame you. It’s not exactly the most lucrative of careers. But I love it, even if that took me awhile to discover. I was a double-major in English and Theatre during my years at Holy Cross, and I was also in the Creative Writing program in poetry. I never had a class in playwriting, but for my honors thesis senior year, I decided to try my hand in writing a play in verse, as a way of combining all of my interests into one big final project. One of my advisors, Professor Ed Isser from Theatre, suggested that after graduation I should consider submitting my play to MFA programs. It was something I had never even thought of. I never thought that my writing would be strong enough for graduate programs.
I graduated, got a job as a copyeditor, and settled into my life in the “real world,” but I never forgot about graduate school, and the idea would haunt me every now and then. Finally, on the day of my 25th birthday, it hit me that I had to stop putting off grad school out of fear and intimidation and just go for it. I knew that if I continued to push the idea out of my head that someday I would regret never trying. I contacted a few Holy Cross professors, who were more than willing to give me advice even though I had been out of school for over three years. I finally applied, which was one of the most daunting processes ever, and I started at BU this past September.
And because I’m insane, I also decided to keep my copyediting job while going to school. My company has been great and allows me to work from home with flexible hours so that I can attend my classes. I took two playwriting workshops this past fall, and I am in two more this spring. I’m hoping to take two electives in the first summer session and one more in the second summer session. If I can make that schedule work, and then transfer in the literature course I took last year at UMass Amherst, I should be done with my degree by September 2010. It’s such an intense program, and I’m looking forward to sharing the rest of my progress with all of you. I can guarantee that there will be weeks when I am stressed out of my mind, but at least it should make for some good stories to share.
Hey Colleen great post. I graduated in 2006. What are you doing now, theatre?